Easy fill-in-the-blank budget!

Happy Monday!  Has everyone been busy?  I sure have!  I adopted 3 darling chickens yesterday who were too noisy for a little down-town neighborhood.  They are extremely sweet hens, I can't wait to share pictures!

Im going to share my #1 recommended budget sheet...  we have been using this for years and years.  It is easy and will keep your life straight.  Print it out and try it.  While I love our Budgeting app i find this sheet nice when making changes...  currently we are working on our property and i am seeing just how much we have to spend on a big repair project!

Monthly Cash Flow Plan

There it is guys, print it out and take a look at it.

Lesson 1: Create a successful environment

Its easy to not blow your grocery budget when you are home sitting on your couch.  Its easy to not buy a splurge fancy sweater if you are not at the mall...

Todays task is to remove those temptations.  

We wouldn't ask an alcoholic to get healthy with a house full of vodka would we?  So it is not fair to expect you to restrain yourself with an inbox full of emails from your favorite stores with promises of happiness and bargains.

1) emails: unsubscribe from all shopping possibilities

2) regular mail...  a few stores still do this, Bath & Body Works, etc.  If these coupons are a temptation remove yourself

3) shopping for fun...  just stop.  at this point you do not *need* new underwear or kitchen items.  Use what you have and make do.  Broken can opener?  ask around for a free one.  What are the chances you go to buy a replacement and end up with something else too?  $20 that could have gone to debt.

4) grocery shopping:  when you do go you will have a hand-written list AND a snack before you do to stop hunger-induced splurges. 

5) social media:  this one is HUGE and we do not even realize it.  Constant ads quietly encouraging us to spend money.  Limiting is best, followed by purposefully filling it with emotionally beneficial content.  Follow every Dave Ramsey page you can find..  and for fun add in some minimalism or workout topics, healthy eating or easy recipes, crafts or cute animal pages.

Lesson 1B, Step 1; Emergency Fund

Welcome to Lesson 1 Part B!  You now have your reasons why you want to be free from those crippling debt hand-cuffs.  Paying off debt can feel really good, it can even be fun at times.  Imagine paying off a $4,000.00 credit card and being done with it forever!  What relief!

We need to be smart and to be prepared to be successful...  what if something happens...  you blow a tire and need a new one at $250....  Credit Card to the rescue, right?  NO.  

Getting out of Debt: Lesson 1

Getting out of debt.  Sounds like a dream, right?  It seems like everyone has debt, a LOT of debt.  It is the only way to live, the only way to drive a reliable car, the only way to treat your family to a nice dinner, buy the expensive sports equipment, pay the car repair bills.  You know what I am talking about...  until you realize you are living your life trying to play catch-up in a loosing game.  One emergency sets you back years of payments....  if you lost your job could you pay the lenders?  A downward spiral for us while the banks rake in profits.

We got ourselves out of over 300K of debt using Dave Ramseys plan.  It took us 5 years.  It was hard, very hard.  VERY FREAKING HARD.  But now we can do whatever we want.  Two days ago hubby just paid cash for a lovely, gently used Audi.  Last month we paid cash to have our driveway paved...  watching our girls play basketball on it every day is priceless.  As soon as it is safe to travel again

What do i do with 30lbs of meat...

Had a small grocery list so i headed to our local Military Commissary, because I am trying to keep under budget this month.  What do I spy but the BEST deal i have ever seen on chicken breast...  only 93 cents a pound!  This generally goes for $4-6 a pound at our local grocery stores.  Nearby the ground lean sausage was only $1/lb.  I really felt like i had hit the jackpot, bought a total of 30lbs...

On my way home I considered going back for more, but didn't ;)

Some quick googling at the grocery store and I decided to try a few 'junk' type recipes..  you know, the ones with 'can creamed soup' or those 'spice packets' and convenient 'meal helpers' because I knew realistically right now, as I am also juggling the family, farm AND working nearly full time, I just can't prep all this alone without a few 'helpers'.

Fingers crossed they turn out!

First up I did a big batch of Chicken Pot Pie using BOTH premade dough and can of generic mushroom soup.  It was pretty quick, I did the prep while the chicken baked.  I am SO in love with our 'new to us' garage fridge, it is the perfect place to freeze my meals flat then transfer to our big freezer.  I did end up with a little extra Pot Pie sauce to turned that into a soup!  4 meals down.

Next up some quick BBQ chicken bags using a 'healthy' low sugar BBQ sauce and some diced onion,  4 made, no recipe needed here, just a bottle of bbq sauce, some diced onion, fresh garlic and olive oil!

Then Balsamic Peach chicken, using this recipe, 3 of those...  wondering if it will work well in the crock pot?  hmmmm....

I bought some 'butter chicken' seasoning packets and whipped that up.  Trying to think back, i think this may be the only time i have EVER purchased a seasoning packet, LOL!  Lets hope it turns out ;)

For a fun Italian dish I made Sun Dried Tomato Chicken, I will serve this with pasta and veggies of course! Another 3 dinners down!

Who doesn't love Eggroll in a Bowl?  I believe a friend shared this recipe with me about a year ago... its a family favorite!  I don't even have a particular recipe I use, just a quick google or pinterest search and I get the basic ingredients, be sure to use plenty fresh ginger and sesame oil, those make the dish :)  4 packs ready to go, must add fresh cabbage...  on busy nights simply use cole-slaw mix!

...and more!  I was so busy finishing these meals I never finished this post. I saved SO much money doing this, most meals were only a few dollars.  Commitment and organization...

IF I made 30 dinners for 4 people at only $4 each...  normally a dinner for 4 made at home is closer to $14 and up...  meaning I saved $10 per meal, times 30...

a savings of $300!  WOW!

Reduce Ocean Pollution with Hippo Sak

We got the opportunity to try Hippo Sak earth friendly trash bags and boy they are amazing!  This company employs struggling families in Haiti and Mexico by paying them for cleaning plastic out of our ocean!  This plastic is then used to produce trash bags, which we buy and use.

These are super strong bags and come in a variety of sizes.  A wonderful solution to waste that anybody can get on board with.

Check them out on Amazon HERE!

Safeway bargains are a lifesaver!

Ahhh, back from a lovely family vacation and time to jump into savings mode again.  Our brief pause from paying off debt was very much needed after working extremely hard on our goal for SOO many years.

Tide Ultra Stain Release Review

how will it preform? 

My Tide Ultra Stain Release came!

I received a 37 ounce bottle in the Original scent.  To me it smells clean and maybe a little like blue flowers, not overpowering, just nice.  The detergent is HE safe and this bottle promises to wash 19 loads of laundry!

I tried it out on my yard work clothes...  it seems to work great!  I have a lot of old set in stains on my work jeans but anything new came right out!

This scent made my hubby happy, he loves this sort of product.  I prefer a more natural scented detergent, so this will be his!  Cant wait to see how it preforms on his smelly exercise clothes :)

I rate this product with a thumbs-up!  It gets new dirt and stains out wonderfully!

Safeway Bargains

Use that Just 4 U program on the Safeway site...  it is fantastic if you are trying to cut your grocery budget.  Supplementing with free, and nearly free, food this month has allowed us to save SO MUCH toward our goal.  I plan to keep this up as much as possible all summer!

$3.50

This bunch was $3.50, the ice-cream was a splurge of course, my family loves treats and at just over a dollar i could justify it!  I actually used one 'real' paper coupon here, making the hot dogs free...  not something i would normally buy, but will make fun summer lunches for the kiddos.

$1.97

This group contains a few free coupons so i only paid for the bread and cereal.  $1.97 total!

$2.67

More cheap bread, and these flavorless eggs will only be used for baking (my hens are not laying enough for all our needs right now) and this trip cost me $2.67!

I have saved SO much this month it is unbelievable.  While I did sacrifice quality on a lot of my shopping trips I do supplement with a lot of home-grown organic greens and as much 'health food' as possible, pantry is stocked with organic oats, brown rice, etc!

$2 pizza and Commissary clearance

and i only went in for garlic...

Fresh garlic was on my list...  an opportunity to visit our Commissary and see what i can find!

No Spend update & HUGE mid-month savings!

my favorite, early morning quiet spot. 

Half way through this no-spend month...  i did end up spending a tiny bit more..  mainly on that darn produce, boy we eat a LOT of it!

No-Spend update: $189 spent

Our Pantry Challange is going great!  Surprised?   Yes, I have spent $189 so far on groceries and we are only on DAY 9!!!   If this continues we will be....  actually, way ahead of the game!

My pantry challange is more relaxed than it used to be, my kids eat SO. MUCH. MORE. and feeding our pets is not something that can wait, and I buy them quality food which is not super cheap...

PLUS, a few pricy things we cannot 'live' without, such a coconut oil and stevia somehow ALL ran out at the same time this week!  Of course they did!  Chickens eat a LOT of food too...  little stinkers!

So, where did i spend all this money?  Heres where....

35,000 prizes from Dominoes!

Those are the kind of odds i like!  Simply sign up  HERE to get the notice that the giveaway has begun!  I have done this in the past and was super slow to respond, but this time I aim to be quicker, wanna get those kiddos some free pizza!  ;)

Freezer Chicken Tikka Masala

I am supposed to be doing the Pantry Challange but when i see chicken breast marked down to $1.04lb i buy 10lbs!  because that deal is too darn good to pass up.

Safeway deals!

Its been a long time since I have gone into Safeway...  and Im so glad I did!  We got the sale ad in the mail just the other day and I thought to myself 'this is a great way to save money, self!'.   Grapes were on sale for only $1.49lb!!!  Even the Commissary sells them for double that!  That was enough of a bargain to get me in there....

I logged-on to the Safeway website to be sure my Rewards Card was up to date and discovered the digital coupon section.  I simply clicked on the ones I wanted to use and they magically went to my Rewards card.  Something amazing I noticed were coupons made JUST FOR ME to get something free (or nearly free)!  Seriously?  I actually thought it was too good to be true...  but tried it anyway of course!

June Pantry Challenge, 3 Easy Steps!

Its time!  Time to have a fresh start and begin a No-Spend month including a Pantry Challenge!

What is a pantry challenge?  Im glad you asked!  A pantry challenge is simply using every little bit of food in your house before buying more.  Easy!

Some are concerned this may be counterproductive, like, ‘but then I will have to buy double groceries next month!!!’  Generally that is not the case.  Eating everything in your house means digging into that bag of lentils you were never going to use....  and all that whole wheat flour you have is going to become bread for your childrens lunches!  Major $$$ savings!

Just 3 easy steps...

Brooder Project for Baby Chicks! Totally re-purposed!

Raising baby chicks is so much fun!  They also tend to grow fast, get messy and stinky quick!  Space is optimal, as is security.

Ive been wanting to build a practical and sturdy chick brooder for quite some time and was able to use a very old wood kitchen cabinet leftover from a barn remodel!  (my moms- not mine!)

This thing had been sitting in an open but covered shed for about 10 years, it had a previous life as a kitchen cabinet!  Its possible it was built in the 60s...  or 80s?  Hard to tell...  the original dwelling is well over 100 years old...  so, who knows!  Super sturdy, solid wood, perfect!

Think it would make a great brooder?  I was confident!

Kimchi- Costcos organic vegan version

I got the huge tub of Kimchi at Costco and was...  very underwhelmed :-/

Whats a girl to do? Fix it!




I dumped the whole dang thing out, chopped it smaller and added only 3 ingredients.  Fish sauce, ginger oil and Sambal Oleek.  Roughly a couple Tbs of the hot peppers and fish sauce, a drop or 2 of ginger, i did this to my personal taste, no recipe.























Now it has some taste and this big jug isn't a waste!  Sometimes its a little work to save money, or rather, not waste it, but so worth it!

Sweet Potato Nachos

A new family favorite...  sweet potato nachos!

FREE books for kids!

We visit our local library pretty much every week.  We are blessed to live near a very nice facility!

Reading just 10 hours earns each child a FREE BOOK of their choice.  This is a really great opportunity to not only encourage reading but to practice allowing you child to have the power and freedom to choose their own book without suggestion from you.  I recall my youngest child a couple years ago wanting to pick a book way below her 'reading level' and me trying to push her toward one that was more 'age appropriate'.  This did not go over well, she wanted it to be her choice and did not enjoy me fighting her over it.  I dropped it, let her pick on her own and since then will never interject my opinion on what book anybody should choose.

An article I read recently discussed the importance of letting your child choose books at a lower level if they wish.  It not only builds familiarity but it teaches them that reading is fun and joyful!  I also feel that the instant gratification of working toward a goal builds crucial life long skills.  Simply read every day until those 10 hours are reached and earn your prize!  Just like the real world...  work 40 hours at your job and the prize is your paycheck ;)

We just checked out the Reading program offered by Barnes & Noble and will try it out this year!  Our big chain bookstore is in the next town over, in our mall.  I don't generally buy books nor go to the mall so you can see how we haven't attempted this one before.  To participate simply print out the Reading Journal and have your child read 8 books, fill out the information including author and their favorite part!  A great way to get in some deep thinking as well as handwriting practice.   Read more about it HERE

Two great opportunities to earn free books simply by reading!  Hope your kids enjoy these programs as much as mine are!

Kitsap Regional Library printable log is HERE

Barnes & Noble printable Journal HERE

Now remember to actually take your children in to claim those free books, schedule it if needed...  following through is as important as the project is itself!  Life long skills are being created now.  Enjoy summer!